Page 4 of Collin: Episodes 1-3
Mr. Reevesworth nodded. “A perfect answer.” He drew a card from his pocket. “This is the information for one of my boys. He works in finance law near here. If you want to know more, meet him.”
Collin took the card. “How long has he been with you?”
“Five years as a lawyer. The rest of his story is up to him.”
Collin looked down at the card. It read Damian Sathers — Attorney at Law, followed by an email address and a phone number.
Damian Sathers was a dark-skinned man of African descent with a shave so perfect his skin glowed in the sun. He had bright eyes and wore a blue-and-pink-striped button-down shirt beneath a solid dark-blue waistcoat. His belt and his shoes matched, as did the leather on his watch. He was taller than Collin, at least five foot eleven, if not six feet tall. Everything about him moved smoothly, even his fingers as they wrapped around Collin’s in a handshake.
“Mr. Reevesworth said you would reach out. I’m glad you decided to consider his proposal.”
Collin glanced around. There was noise enough to mask anything but a riotous conversation, considering several men and women in suits were busy getting lunch nearby. He held up the carry tote of boba tea in one hand and motioned toward some seats near the river with the other. It was a sunny day and the city planning department’s continued rework of the riverfront through the downtown was paying off in increased foot traffic to the open parks and green spaces around the water’s edge.
Damian pulled out chairs for both of them and borrowed a napkin from the tote to wipe off the table. He tossed it in a nearby trash bin before coming back and sitting down.
Collin offered Damian his drink, a green tea boba. “I’ve never had one of these before.”
“You might like it, you might not.” Damian smirked and pushed his straw into his drink. “Mr. Reevesworth can keep his Turkish coffee. This is what I like.”
“So I’m guessing that he made you a similar offer that he made me and you accepted?”
Damian shrugged. “Each of his offers are tailored to the individual, but yes, simply put, he did.”
“And you have no regrets?”
Damian’s eyes rested on Collin’s face for a long moment. “There are very few people in this world you can trust, Collin. But the best ones to trust are the ones that tell you exactly what motivates them from the beginning. What they want. Even if it’s power. And believe me, Mr. Reevesworth is very much motivated by power. He’s the power behind this particular bit of park, actually. And he’s proud of it. I would say he gloated, even, when they extended the green space here.”
“I thought that was the city planners.”
“Oh, it went through the regular channels, but Mr. Reevesworth and his husband, Mr. Moreau, they pulled the strings. When Mr. Reevesworth says that he loves beautiful things, he is not merely observing. He creates. Beautiful spaces. Beautiful businesses. Beautiful people.”
“Does he…did he ask you to get plastic surgery?”
Damian paused mid-sip and laughed. White teeth flashed behind dark lips. “Plastic…?” He gasped and laughed again. “Plastic surgery. What? No. This…this is all natural.” He motioned at his face.
“Then what do you mean, create beautiful people?”
Damian tapped his foot against the ground. “You know how you can meet someone wearing filthy jeans and covered in mud after being outside doing something they love and they look amazing, but then you can meet someone in one of these Golden Mile department stores, dressed to the nines, but they look dead?”
“Yes.”
“The difference is hope, and joy, and security. Whatever that means for different people. There are people who are dying who have the spark and people who apparently have everything who don’t have the spark. Mr. Reevesworth and Mr. Moreau take delight in finding that spark, be it in a place, a person, a house, a business, and feeding it until everyone else can see it.”
“They did that for you?”
“Yes.”
“But what did they do?”
Damian smiled and shook his head, a glint in his eyes. “You haven’t signed that NDA yet, so there’s only so much I can tell you. I will say they will take you apart and fit you back together again. You will get very, very familiar with their personal gym or whatever other gym they assign you. They believe usable vitality and durability resides in activity. They will teach you to code switch.”
“What’s code switching?”
Damian’s lips twisted to the side. “I bet you wouldn’t believe me when I told you I grew up below 69th Street.”
Collin frowned. Damian stretched out his neck and then stared Collin right in the eye. His shoulders sagged and tightened. His belly shifted. He sank down in his chair and his jaw changed somehow. Something challenging, angry sounding, and foreign dropped from his lips. Collin understood none of it.
Collin’s spine tightened. He straightened up.
